BEGGARS CAN’T BE BLOGGERS

Movies and Comics – I Will Try To Fix You With Comics Edition

BATMAN: SON OF THE DEMON  by Mike W Barr and Jerry Bingham DC Graphic Novel  Grade: B

Mark Hamill delivering the introduction to a book published in 1987 amuses me as it was 5 years later before he would become an integral part of Batman, voicing Joker in the classic animated series.  I think I read this 10 years ago and didn’t care for it.  But since then, two things happened which inspired me to give it another shot:

·         Batman’s child was reworked back into continuity (despite Grant Morrison stating he didn’t read SOTD before writing the origin of Damian Wayne).

·         I saw the last installment of the Dark Knight Trilogy and was underwhelmed.

This is a story of Batman’s partnership with Ra’s al Ghul and his daughter Talia.  Basically they form an unsteady alliance to take down a terrorist and his weather machine.  It’s as silly as it sounds, but I’ll admit, I’ve never read a Batman story where so much happens in just 78 pages.  It’s a lot to swallow that Batman would give up crime fighting upon learning his wife is pregnant, and then ditches her after she fakes a miscarriage.  If anyone takes a backseat, it’s Ra’s al Ghul.  Ra’s seems way too forgiving here, and he nearly gets his butt kicked before Batman bails him out.  No one wants to see Ra’s be anything else other than a complete bad ass.

If there’s a reason to recommend the book, it’s the art.  Bingham penciled, inked, and colored this story and it’s fantastic.   I‘ll have to remember Bingham because other than some Superman stories, I’m not too familiar with the guy.
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ALAN MOORE: WILD WORLDS DC/WILDSTORM by Alan Moore - TPB Grade: B

DC released this collection shortly after Moore completed his strong ABC run and walked away from their Wildstorm imprint.  Surely no one who purchases this trade is expecting the quality of Top 10 or Promethea.   Moore created the ABC sandboxes from scratch (except League of Extraordinary Gentlemen???), worked with better artists at ABC, and "Wild Worlds" is certainly not up to such hight standards.  But I disagree with anyone who says Moore "mails this in". Are these more mainstream adventures than what we expect from Moore?  Absolutely.  But there is still great wickedness on display here.

 In his WildC.A.T.S./Spawn crossover the main characters meet, fight each other, then fight the bad guy.  That’s pretty standard, and if Moore had pitched anything else in doing a WildC.A.T.S./Spawn crossover the book would’ve never seen print.  And I certainly disagree with the Goodreads' reviewer who typed in the single word critique of "retarded".  I'm curious why someone with such an active vocabulary would waste any time not posting comments on You Tube.

The WildC.A.T.S./Spawn adventure feels much like a 90's era Age of Apocalypse tale.  Paradox alert:  Spawn is both the main villain AND a member of the invasion party, so there are some trippy time travel elements at play here. And I forgot the obvious rule that if a new character conceals their identity, there will be a earth shattering reveal in the last act. 

He’s not reinventing comics with this one, folks.  Moore is throwing a smackdown, and anybody expecting otherwise should cool their expectations a bit.  I thought the crossover was a lot of fun, however.

The Voodoo story is challenging initially.   At first it plays like an exploitation picture, with the casual use of the N-word and several women being referred to as "bitches" And then that tone is shattered by beautiful interruptions of crackerjack prose when Moore introduces his godlings.  To top if off is a stripper, who was superhero in a former life, and there’s never any attempt to explain her motivation for going X-rated.  Obviously there are misogynist elements but nothing as offensive as a typical Garth Ennis comic.

This is about an empowered, sexy woman, who cuts loose and faces down the devil in a wild finale.  There’s no real scorekeeping as our entire cast transform into magic-washed marionettes, and parade through a battleground that is literally half church/half strip club.

This is what happens when Moore produces a drive-in movie comic, Roger Corman by way of Anne Rice.  I'm more than okay with that.

The chapter dedicated to Deathblow is perhaps the wildest read in the collection.  The title character awakens as a woman in a barely inhabited world.  She soon discovers she is only one version of Deathblow, and the surrounding world is a deathmatch arena with the "Deathblow" identity on the line. 

The Mister Majestic one shot didn't do much for me, but I will confess I'm not too familiar with the character.  Majestic is winding down and saying his goodbyes as the universe snuffs out.  The WildC.A.T.S.stand alone that closes the book is saved entirely by the artist but I had trouble remembering exactly what happened one day later.  Minor complaints for two stories which take up very little space in the book.  DC could have omitted them entirely and shaved a buck off of the price.
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THE CAPE by Joe Hill (story),Jason Ciaramella (writer) ,Zach Howard (penciler)   TPB   -Grade A+

This is a horror story which I initially balked at and dismissed as just another supes’ origin story.  Also the fact that NBC produced a miniseries with the title didn't do it any favors.  But there’s nothing ready for network primetime here.  It’s not safe, and the protagonist who wears the magic cape just happens to be a sociopath. 

The story’s inspiration seems to unfold from the urban myth of the hoodrat who ties a beach towel around his neck and takes a fatal leap from his two story rooftop.  One such child survives his brush with death but never matures into a responsible adult.  This is the “what if” story of “what if” Superman was a major jerk and took what he wanted all the time.  And didn’t care about anyone.

It’s a quick read and avoids familiarity by strapping us to the back of such a demented wild card.    And the art by Zach Howard is delish.  Take a look at this:

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BLUE ESTATE VOLUME 1 -  By Viktor Kalvachev and various - TPB -  Image Comics - Grade B+ Yes, the quotes on the back cover compare it to Tarantino, and maybe one day we'll stop doing that for every new crime comedy.  But it's appropriate here because it suffers from some of  Quentin's faults;  the zingy pop culture references and an overpopulation of hip, seedy characters.  Introducing this many colorful junkies & thieves within a modest four issue framework is, of course,  overwhelming, and the writer never gets around to an actual story before his camera swings around to another crew,  as we bob & sway through the surf guitar tracklist, and we transition from penciler to penciler.

But I am recommending it without reservation because I WAS entertained and BLUE ESTATE is unlike most current books, even the indies.  It's perverse and Kalvachev's creative design is a punked out tribute to pulp fiction (the genre, not the movie- though Hell, it's pretty much that too.  There's a Travolta stand-in who's suggested to have intercourse with a Samuel L. Jackson stand-in).  It's very similar to 100 BULLETS without the conspiratorial nervous system, or STRAY BULLETS minus the blender narrative (though we do flash back then forward a few times).
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BATMAN: EARTH ONE - By Geoff Johns & Gary Frank - Graphic Novel - DC - Grade B+ First I want to recognize what an improvement I thought this was over SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE, a book where the revamping of an origin mostly felt uninspired.  It was rumored that these books (and the ALL STAR books prior) would be DC's version of Marvel's "Ultimate" brand, a streamlining of a universe to make franchise characters more "newbie" friendly and uncluttered from continuity.  For the most part DC succeeds here, with Alfred Pennyworth landing the biggest transformation.  Taking a queue from the recent Bat-Movies and the brilliant characterization by Michael Caine; Alfred is no one's manservant but rather a scarred veteran owing a debt to Bruce Wayne's father.  It's suggested at the end that everything young Bruce knows about tracking & dismantling monsters is honed from the skills Pennyworth brought back from his war.

Is EARTH ONE needed?  Probably not.  It borrows too heavily from Batman: Year One yet misfires in remaking Jim Gordon a whelp to Gotham's corruption.  And I initially hated John's new narcissistic, celebrity cop Harvey Dent, but must admit I'm intrigued by Dent's final scene.  Also Oswald "Penguin" Cobblepott is completely wasted as Gotham's Mayor (the offscreen mayor is an evildoer we learn at the beginning but it's disclosed he's Cobblepott in the climax, right before his demise.  So what's the point burning an A-list villain?).

Gary Frank's art is solid as ever.  Wonderful facial expressions and actions scenes throughout.  I have no problem recommending such a nice looking book.


- Dale Beggars

BEGGARS CAN'T BE BLOGGERS - Movies and Comics

Was derailed this week from sharing almost anything movie and comic wise by an amazing TV show, but I do want to share a very bizarre scene from a Tony Scott movie called “The Last Boy Scout”.  I won’t speak ill of the dead because I’ve seen a lot of people come out on Twitter and praise Scott for being a stand-up guy and a mentor, which he probably was… As a young man I got fired up every single time I saw “True Romance” but upon last viewing a few years ago,  I cringed at everything but Hopper/Walken showdown (which still holds up).  

But this scene may be one of the craziest, illogical ways to take down an armed thug EVER:

Dr. Who – BBC America

Soooo late to this party, and being aware of all the praises and accolades bestowed upon the recent version(s) of Who, I'm very happy to report it lives up to it's reputation.  But let me warn you, I'm still very much a newbie.  I'm have virtually no familiarity with the Who Multiverse.  I'm not aware of any cute nicknames for fans of the show, even though I consider myself among their number.

I've seen roughly 10 shows (9 with Christopher Eccleston and 1 with Matt Smith) and here are my scattered bulletpoints:

1. Dr. Who (who is only referred in the program as "The Doctor") is the last of a race called the "Time Lords".   
2. The Time Lords were wiped out in a war with their arch-enemies, The Daleks, a race that's similar to Star Trek's Borgs, substituting exterminating for assimilation; The Daleks are genetically altered to remove all emotion from their minds except for Hate, and there for want to destroy all existing life except for Dalek.
3. Dr. Who prefers to travel with a "companion".  I gather that they are almost always human and female.
4. Dr. Who has two hearts.
5. Dr. Who regenerates into a new body, and this is why different actors can cycle through without calling for a complete reboot.  Why he regenerates I still don't know.  But it appears his memories don't upload immediately afterwards.
6. His ship is called the "TARDIS".  I don't know if this is an acronym.
7. TARDIS is alive.
8. TARDIS looks like an old fashioned Police Box (similar to a phone booth), but due to a dimensional masking property it's secretly as big as a hotel .  I'm aware of it containing a bridge, a wardrobe, and a swimming pool but I'm quite sure there are many other rooms.
9. TARDIS doesn't arrive to the next adventure via flight most of the time, but rather beams in and out similar to Star Trek.
10. Dr. Who rarely uses a gun (though he isn't above it, specially when it comes to Daleks), but instead utilizes his brain or a "sonic screwdriver".
11. The Sonic Screwdriver is also similar to data devices used on Star Trek, but it's also a master key to almost any locked door the characters stumble across.
12. The few I've watched were mostly time travel stories rather than space travel.  But the spectrum of adventure is huge.  One episode may be hanging out fighting zombies with Charles Dickens and the next may be 200,000 years in the future fighting an oppressive television network executive.
13. The show is driven by fantastic writing.  It does contain special effects but they never overwhelm the story.   
14. It's a family friendly show.
15. But that doesn’t mean it’s not sophisticated science fiction.

Now, like I said, this is what I have inferred from just a few shows so I could be offbase about a number of points.  But my biggest misconception going in was that the show was too cerebral for me, or too dry.  It's actually very easy to follow, and yet retains it’s wit & charm, and some damned scary monsters as well.
The following scene produced one of the greatest “Fuck Yeah” moments I’ve seen on any show.  This episode was written by Stephen Moffat, who is also responsible for another “Fuck Yeah” reboot, the series Sherlock, also on BBC.  This is Matt Smith’s debut as The Doctor.  Watch how he gets dressed in the climax on the rooftop, casually talking a little trash to a monster while dawning his superhero bowtie.

The Doctor
Here’s a better question; Is this world a threat to The Atraxi?    …. Well, come on.  You are monitoring the whole planet- Is this world a threat?

(The Atraxi Eye Avatar projects a hologram of human history on the rooftop, and scans all of human history in seconds)
                                            
Atraxi Eye Avatar
No!

The Doctor
Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of The Atraxi?
(The Atraxi Eye Avatar scans hologram of the faces of Earth citizens.)      
                                                         
Atraxi Eye Avatar
No!                            
                                                        
The Doctor
Okay…… One more.  Just one…. Is this world protected?


The way Matt Smith is adjusting the tie while the hologram gives the audience a curtain call for every actor who ever played The Doctor is the greatest “Fuck Yeah!” moment I’ve seen in a long, long time.

- Dale Beggars

BEGGARS CAN’T BE BLOGGERS – Movies and Comics – Dale Beggars

My wife and I were watching Jack Goes Boating last night and it occurred to me how just one random minute of it’s running time contained more truth about relationships than the entire run of comics featuring Black Panther and Storm as a married couple.  So what’s so shocking about Avengers VS X-Men #9?

And, no, we don’t buy comics to see T’challa get reamed out for pubcrawling by a curler wearing Storm, so Marvel creators don’t explore the same themes as the movies.  But can we be honest and say the last time T’Challa was interesting was the first 6 issues of the Reggie Hudlin run? And with Storm, we’d go way back to her mohawk days, back when she listened to The Exploited.

And the whole “Marvel doesn’t know how to portray positive black relationships” argument doesn’t work, because this was a Wakandan king marrying a mutant “goddess”.  The only way these characters get more dull is if they speak in verse.  At least Brian Michael Bendis, for better or worse, injects the Luke Cage/Jessica Jones marriage with real world problems.  Even Bendis’ critics must admit he’s trying to show married people struggle with anxiety and identity within the 616 area code.  

It’s hardly surprising Marvel employs an event comic to undo T’challa & Storm’s  vows since editors were inventing new ways for them to live separately.  My god, last year T’challa was running a diner in Hell’s Kitchen!  He had a greater shot of bumping into this guy than his wife .  His wife, who was joining one more superteam under Marvel’s cart-before-the- horse braintrust.  A therapist might ask one of these workaholics if professional obligation was but a convenient excuse to stay away from their spouse.

Speaking of Storm’s mohawk days, one of my favorite 80’s X-Men memories was when the powerless Ororo Munroe took her sabbatical to Dallas, Texas (where I live).  I loved the way JRJr drew Forge’s skyscraper so close in proximity to Reunion Tower.  And BWS would step in for those ” Life/Death” specials.  What a story.  Do you think Forge would ever lease a floor to the Kardashians, if the 616 Lakers traded Lamar to the 616 Mavericks?   Would Forge expose the Kardashians for the Dire Wraiths they truly are?  Before embarking on the destruction of the Seacrest Empire?

Thumbs of for Jack Goes Boating, by the way.  My wife hated it, and it’s very similar to Punch Drunk Love  which also starred Hoffman.  But I’m sucker for stories where repressed manchildren learn to contain their rage and speak to women.  Probably because it’s so different from my own life.

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On today’s pile was BOOM! Studios’ Steed And Mrs Peel 1-6 by Grant Morrison, Anne Caulfield, and Ian Gibson.  

Of course, I had no idea BOOM! republished these from a 1990’s Eclipse title.  It’s a terrific showcase for artist Ian Gibson, who I remember from the 90’s and looks better than ever on the improved paper.  It’s a very trippy read and, unlike some of Morrison’s more recent work, I wasn’t exhausted by all of the ideas he tossed in.  Morrison’s wonderful , but I admit sometimes I wish he’d throw in one less alternate universe Superman.

- Dale Beggars